To mark the 35th anniversary of the TV anime series ‘Goldfish Warning!’ (Kingyo Chuuihou!), it’s been announced that the show has landed on Toei Animation’s official YouTube channel, the “Toei Animation Museum Channel.” The series ran in Toei’s Saturday 7pm anime slot and was the show that immediately preceded ‘Sailor Moon.’ Over on 5ch’s Geinou/Sports News+ thread, fans who remember the era got nostalgic — swapping theories that it was “the first anime to shorten ‘potato chips’ to ‘potechi,’” fond memories of voice actresses Mika Kanai and Yumi Takada, and reminiscences about how that Saturday timeslot evolved from Saint Seiya all the way to Sailor Moon.
Toei Animation Museum Channel
@toeianime_MC
(゜))<<Celebrating the TV Anime’s 35th Anniversary(゜))<<
Back in the day, 'potechi' wasn't even a word yet, y'know
80AnonymousSep 14, 2026 21:47
Re: #2
Wait, is THIS where 'potechi' actually came from?
4AnonymousSep 14, 2026 21:04
It's basically the shoujo-manga version of Dr. Slump
51AnonymousSep 14, 2026 21:30
Re: #4
They say Dr. Slump is set around Mikawa Bay, where Toriyama's grandfather lived. Goldfish Warning! is set on the outskirts of Hamamatsu. They're close by, and both places are known for eel too.
98AnonymousSep 14, 2026 21:58
Re: #4
First time I've heard that comparison, but damn if it isn't spot on
6AnonymousSep 14, 2026 21:05
A goldfish flying through the sky, how very Ali Baba~♪ (a line from the show's theme song)
11AnonymousSep 14, 2026 21:07
Hey, you there —
Ready yet?
Alright, here's the report:
Wapiko's Weather Forecast!
A high-pressure system shaped like a bow-tie ribbon
is closing in on your heart
Catch the smile front
and come on running
12AnonymousSep 14, 2026 21:07
The Pretty Cure timeslot, huh
66AnonymousSep 14, 2026 21:35
Re: #12
No, that's the Sailor Moon timeslot
16AnonymousSep 14, 2026 21:08
The deformed/chibi art style is genuinely adorable. I remember episodes 1 and 2 being flat-out great. Sorry if my memory's playing tricks on me though.
19AnonymousSep 14, 2026 21:08
Wasn't this the show right before Sailor Moon?
56AnonymousSep 14, 2026 21:32
Re: #19
Yep, that's right. Honestly liked this one better — it leaned more into a heartwarming comedy vibe.
21AnonymousSep 14, 2026 21:08
Wapiko's an old lady by now too (´・ω・`)
23AnonymousSep 14, 2026 21:09
Hope at least a little money still makes its way to big sis Akiko Kosaka
28AnonymousSep 14, 2026 21:12
Re: #23
Don't worry, her songs are still getting covered even now in the Reiwa era
27AnonymousSep 14, 2026 21:12
I still can't forget the 'ebi-furya uiro' (a joke souvenir cake made to look like fried shrimp, playing on the Nagoya dialect word for fried shrimp) that Chitose Fujinomiya's mom brought back as a souvenir in the anime
30AnonymousSep 14, 2026 21:14
Mika Kanai and Yumi Takada, man, that takes me back
31AnonymousSep 14, 2026 21:14
The tragedy is Sailor Moon came the very next year, so this one got buried even harder
33AnonymousSep 14, 2026 21:16
Re: #31
There was also that show sandwiched between the Ojamajo Doremi series and Pretty Cure, y'know
43AnonymousSep 14, 2026 21:22
Re: #31
Can't really be helped — that whatever-it-was-called anime sandwiched between Doremi and Pretty Cure basically never comes up either
47AnonymousSep 14, 2026 21:29
Re: #31
Its direction and staging influenced a lot of what came after, though — its impact on later works was actually huge
32AnonymousSep 14, 2026 21:16
I had the Game Boy game. Remember it being pretty fun.
34AnonymousSep 14, 2026 21:16
'Goldfish Warning!', 'Akazukin Chacha,' 'Mahou Jin Guru Guru' — no idea why, but I know all these names and have zero clue what any of them were actually about
35AnonymousSep 14, 2026 21:17
Not sure why, but I keep mixing it up with Mikan's Illustrated Diary (Mikan Enikki).
37AnonymousSep 14, 2026 21:19
Whoever wrote the lyrics 'Come on, Rose Victory' over that endlessly sunny, cheerful melody is a genius
38AnonymousSep 14, 2026 21:19
The anime that taught me the place name 'Utsunomiya' (´・ω・`)
40AnonymousSep 14, 2026 21:20
So nostalgic lol, I can still sing the opening to this day lol
42AnonymousSep 14, 2026 21:22
Love it when they let us watch old anime like this for free
44AnonymousSep 14, 2026 21:24
The name 'Wapiko' was pretty novel/edgy for its time
46AnonymousSep 14, 2026 21:28
The OP's supposed to be a cheer song for the Yokohama Rose, but it doesn't really sound like one
48AnonymousSep 14, 2026 21:29
This is supposedly the anime that coined 'potechi' as shorthand for potato chips, and yet it's stuck in the shadows just for airing the cour right before Sailor Moon
49AnonymousSep 14, 2026 21:30
All I remember is that the blonde heroine was cute
68AnonymousSep 14, 2026 21:36
Can't tell what this thread's even on about. Guess I'll go watch it. Wait, seriously, THIS is where 'potechi' came from?
85AnonymousSep 14, 2026 21:50
Re: #68
Yeah, apparently Goldfish Warning! was the first to use the word 'potechi'
69AnonymousSep 14, 2026 21:36
Wasn't this the show that came on right after 21 Emon?
This is the original show where running gets drawn as a swirly blur of legs, right
71AnonymousSep 14, 2026 21:40
Re: #70
The potechi thing, and that too
73AnonymousSep 14, 2026 21:40
Not just 'potechi' — this show also helped boost awareness of yakisoba bread (a Japanese bread roll stuffed with fried noodles). Well, maybe that's just how I personally learned about yakisoba bread, though.
75AnonymousSep 14, 2026 21:43
Re: #73
Pretty sure there was a fight-over-the-yakisoba-bread scene in Urusei Yatsura too. For some reason a ton of Showa-era school manga/anime were really into pushing yakisoba bread.
Background and Talking Points
The theory floated in the thread — that this show was the first to shorten “potato chips” to “potechi” — is fan lore that’s been passed down over the years, not a confirmed, official origin for the term. There are actually several competing theories about where “potechi” comes from, and the sense that the term “took off” right around when this show aired seems to be tangled up with fans’ affection for the series itself. The other piece of background is the lineage of Toei Animation’s Saturday 7pm timeslot: after ‘Saint Seiya,’ ‘Ganso Bonbon,’ and ‘Mouretsu Atarou,’ this show held the slot before it passed to ‘Sailor Moon’ — and several commenters noted that it’s long been overshadowed by the fame of the show that followed it. There wasn’t much real disagreement in the thread; it was mostly a mix of nostalgic reminiscing from people who watched it at the time, alongside reactions from those who only knew the title and nothing about the actual content. This YouTube release comes via the Toei Animation Museum Channel and appears to be part of a recent trend of studios making older archive titles freely available.
Leave a Reply